The Moonlight's Fair Tonight by The Most Powerful Telescope in the UniverseThe Most Powerful Telescope In The Universe :The Moonlight's Fair Tonight
DWL049 / IONIK038-2 . Released September 22 2009
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The first full-length from The Most Powerful Telescope In The Universe, recorded over two weekends in secluded woodland cabins, and pressed to 12" vinyl in limited-edition silkscreened covers. Their first, self-titled EP garnered comparisons to Slint, Shellac, and Ride, and 'The Moonlight's Fair Tonight' takes this mix of post-punk and spaced-out indie rock to the next level - it's an album of psych-pop and drone for those who discovered Pink Floyd before post-rock, rough-edged and unrehearsed.
Reviews
The Moonlight's Fair Tonight is just a beautiful record. The Most Powerful Telescope in the Universe blend the atmospheric feel of Death From Above with the indie-pop of Of Montreal. The album ebbs and flows brilliantly from track to track and everything is just done perfectly. The vocals, although a bit of an acquired taste, work for each track. The tempos are simultaneously upbeat and calming. The instruments and song construction are intricate and deeply layered. Opening track "The Last of the Incas" is simply a genius song of delicate construction and sets the tone for the whole album.

The Moonlight's Fair Tonight adds to the recent trend of records from the Pacific Northwest hinging more and more on solid fundamental construction instead of the bells and whistles the rest of the music world seems intent on placing on records. This is just a simply stunning album.

In the simplest terms, it's rare to find an album this gorgeous. And even rarer to find one so warm, so positively glowing in the moment. A group of friends, as much as a band, The Most Powerful Telescope In The Universe recorded their full length album The Moonlight's Fair Tonight by assembling a group of musicians and shuttling them off for two weekend-long stints at a secluded woodland cabin somewhere in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Nothing was written in advance. Nothing prepared. Just the musicians and the desire to create an album on the spot. Obviously, the environment was conducive to feed the muse of these cats, because what they created is a breath-taking journey through Of Montreal's indie-pop sensibilities and Explosions in the Sky sonic experiments.

Guitars weave and curl, swirling through the mix like smoke coming from that cabin's fireplace. Keyboards layer in, hiding underneath, floating to the top, twisting through the air like dust floating in a beam of moonlight. Songs float and levitate across the vinyl, barely being contained by the pull of gravity's force. "Last of the Incas," the lead-off song fills the air with all that these guys represent; loads of swirling, reverb soaked psychedelic guitar that builds in subtle beauty until it takes flight. Joy Division-esque bass adds a weighiness to the proceedings, keeping the song from become fey or too disconnected. Keyboards float by like cosmic dust while the vocals jump on the tail of a passing comet, adding a gentle whispering beauty. "Cops Chasing Undercover Cops," follows without bothering to touch back down on terra firma. So gorgeously constructed, so lushly soaked in the sweetness of some floating constellation.

Don't let the thought of "space rock" or "psychedelia" put you off. This isn't head lost it's own ass music that wanders endlessly searching for a melody. It's a testament to the strength of the musicians that each song hangs together firmly within it's own melodic structure, but loose enough to expand throughout the solar system. Simply put, this album is scrumptious. One listen is all it takes. One listen to know that you also want to join that flight, leave the earth behind and reach out into the cosmos. Or at the very least, join the musicians next time they take to that remote cabin. Ah, what I wouldn't give to be there and watch it all happen.

Recording projects done in isolated cabins out in the wilderness conjure up all the wrong images of what The Moonlights Fair Tonight actually sounds like (in fact, so does it's title). Far from Mt. Eerie, far from Bon Iver, The Most Powerful Telescope in the Universe plays atmospheric rock, somewhere between shoegaze and post-rock. Interesting though, is the group does incorporate some of the warmth of the aforementioned artists into their own blend of genres not known for that sort emotion. Oh, and did I mention you can download this whole album fro free on either Ionik's or Datawaslost's websites? Not much of an excuse left to sleep on this one any longer, is there?

Once a year, five members of four different bands, namely MW Ensemble, Swissfarlo, Coltrane Motion and With Raccoon Hands, get together in a secluded cabin to write and record songs over a long weekend. To me, this concept is genius and, quite frankly, the music is not too far off from there. These are spacey, psychedelic pop, with delay and fuzz galore and, while early Pink Floyd is an obvious influence, I also hear the dreamy waves of The Feelies, and maybe even some Dinosaur Jr. The instrumental, 'Bloodmilk,' almost sounds like something Amon Duul II would have done. None of it's derivative, however. Perhaps the speed of writing and recording the material, over three or four days without looking back, keeps things more pure. Methinks so.